Gordon Clark: We must fight zealots’ intrusion in our lives

It’s time citizens started having a serious discussion about the authoritarianism underpinning the plans of the eco-elitists in and outside of government to impose radical changes to how we live, including our private lives.

Consider the proposals that have been in the news recently — always coming from the same cabal of usually publicly funded environmental neurotics in government, at the universities, activist groups or, ahem, “think” tanks.

The elected and appointed green ideologues at Vancouver City Hall last month released an absurd plan to eliminate the use of all fossil fuels in the city by 2050. The 73-page strategy naturally provides no estimate to what this would cost, but I know who will pay — you and me, and not just financially. And none of it will do a thing to improve the climate. (Vancouver’s jet-setting, CO2-spewing mayor flew off yet again to promote how green he is, this time to the White House to get a fatherly pat on the head from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for the plan.)

Then there was the report last week from something calling itself the Ecofiscal Commission, arguing that Metro Vancouver should toll all bridges and tunnels to reduce traffic gridlock.

And, of course, those two initiatives are overshadowed by whatever tax-sucking, economy-killing schemes will come out of the upcoming Paris conference on climate change.

A disquieting aspect in all of these high-minded programs is how the self-appointed visionaries behind them treat average citizens as mere pawns in their grand plans for a brave new green world.

None of these programs are about making our lives easier, cheaper or more enjoyable, among the hallmarks of a good life. What regular people might actually want is of zero importance to these zealots if they think it will interfere with what they believe will “save” the planet.

How else do you explain the $200-million plan to rip down the viaducts in Vancouver, given that 71 per cent of Metro Vancouver resident say the decision will only benefit rich developers, not regular folks, according to an Insights West poll released Friday?

Our green overlords will cheerfully limit our liberty — slowly over time so no one will notice — in their pursuit of their policies and what they consider the “greater good.” That’s one of the key defining qualities of authoritarianism. (Yesterday’s revelation that Robertson’s secretive chief of staff routinely destroys all email records of Vision’s governance and mixes his public duties with his private company is another worrying sign.)

Consider what is proposed in Vancouver under Vision, which has the hubris to think that it has a mandate to set the agenda for the city through 2050. Their plan to eliminate the use of fossil fuels wouldn’t happen by accident. They would need to legislate the elimination of gas-powered cars, or impose such high taxes that regular people would be forced to comply. If you wanted to build a house — and this is already happening — they would make you use the latest, most expensive green technology, regardless of the additional burden on your pocketbook. Your freedom to build your house more or less the way you wanted — as previous generations enjoyed — would be stripped away.

New homes would be forced to use electric heaters, even if that would be more expensive, especially if like-minded little tyrants in Victoria and Ottawa impose the use of pricey, unreliable alternative energies, such as solar or wind power. Oh, wait, that’s already happening.

Think about the unfair plan to put tolls on all bridges and tunnels, or the notion of road pricing, where the more you drive, the more you pay.

These ideas must sound great to all the millionaires on the Ecofiscal Commission — people like former premier Mike Harcourt, former prime minister Paul Martin or McGill University economist Chris Ragan, who was at one point being considered for the top job at the Bank of Canada. I wouldn’t imagine that tolls would trouble them too much, given their high incomes.

But what about the regular folks earning normal wages who need to commute long distances for work? Why should they have to pay to use the roads, bridges and tunnels that, for the most part, have already been paid for by them, their parents and grandparents?

This has already happened downtown with the ridiculously high parking rates and taxes. And what do we see? Largely empty parking lots containing mostly luxury vehicles.

Think of the society we will have if we allow these political bullies to use high fees and taxes to repress common behaviours such as driving a car that they wish to reduce?

It will be a dystopian society where the rich will be the only ones able to enjoy the convenience and comfort of driving denied to average citizens by government.

If we want to maintain a more egalitarian society, these constant limits on our freedom and intrusion into our personal lives by green zealots in government must be fought.

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